Shamshir Talatra
dug his fingers into the stone of the crag he was climbing and pulled himself,
Terminator armor and all, up onto an outcropping.

Below and behind
him, his band of renegades was striking the camp they had been using for the
last couple of weeks as they had searched for a piece of ancient archeotech
that Inquisitor Varman Kumar had asked Shamshir to retrieve.Ironically, just as his men had located what
they thought might be the item, they had seen Imperial landing craft arrive,
presumably in search of the same.Depending
how close the Imperials were would determine whether Shamshir and his men could
attempt to take the item, and how quickly the renegades would have to flee with
it.

As he climbed the last few feet to the top,
where he would be able to see where the item sat, abandoned in an overgrown
area that had been a city during the Age of Strife, he found himself face to
snout with a large, snarling bear-like creature.

Shamshir fell
back, raising his bolter, as Keric Quicbrand of the Space Wolves dismounted,
hand raised. “Old friend,” the Wolf Lord said, “it has been too long since we
last met. I see you have met my new friend, Arctos.”He jerked his head back to indicate the bear,
who did his part by growling.

“I cannot
believe you allow yourself to be borne by such a beast,” Shamshir replied, regained
his composure.If the Space Wolves were
the army described in the reports, there was a chance he and his men could get
away without a battle.He needed to play
on the bonds of friendship between the Fighting Tigers and Space Wolves that
apparently Keric still honored.

The Wolf Lord
handed Shamshir a small flask.“This is
eisvassa. It’s not as flavorful as your
spiced beer on Veda, but it gets the juices flowing.”Shamshir took a drink and felt a cold,
burning sensation as the liquid travelled down his throat.As with all other Space Marines, the preomnor
implanted in him during the Transformation filtered out any effects of the
alcohol, so he only experienced the taste, scent, and feel of the drink.

“This seems a
remote area for you to be travelling,” Shamshir said, handed back the flask.“What brings you here?”

Keric laughed and
took a swig of the drink.“Why, you
do.We had heard reports that you had
gone rogue after your demotion, leading a group of Chaos scum.We were skeptical and wanted to get firsthand
proof, and so tracked you down by following sightings of ‘renegade Tiger Marines.’”

“Save it, old
friend,” Keric said, no longer smiling. He put away the flask, took a few steps
back towards the bear. “My Scouts have seen the ghostlike figures amongst your
army. Even if you are not a servant to
the Dark Powers, you have crossed a line.”

“You don’t
understand,” Shamshir said.

“I understand
well enough,” Keric said, mounting the bear.“I understand that it’s only a matter of time for you. You think you control the monsters under you,
but you don’t.Not really.Eventually, either they will kill you, or
you’ll have to cross more lines to keep their obedience.

“Consider what’s
to come,” Keric continued, “as a training exercise, like the ones we used to
have together.Except this time, we will
be using live ammunition.I’ll give you enough
time to rejoin your force, and then we’ll come.”

“This isn’t
necessary,” Shamshir insisted.

“Yes, I’m afraid
it is,” Keric replied. The Wolf Lord turned his mount and disappeared down the other side of the hill.

Shamshir sighed
and began the climb back down the other side.

Every
April, my buddy Pat and I use his birthday as an excuse to get together for a
game of 40K. This year, we thought we’d trot out his tried-and-true Space
Wolves up against my Fearful Symmetry renegades, who aren’t evil but still use
the latest version of the Chaos Space Marine codex.Follow along and let’s see what happened, eh?

Fearful Symmetry:
1997 pointsby Kenton
Kilgore

This
army was formed by the disgraced former Fighting Tiger Shamshir Talatra, and
uses several figures from my collection of Stripeypants, heavily supplemented
by “rakshasas” (malevolent supernatural beings of Hindu myth) and “Ghost Tygers”
(benevolent supernatural beings of my invention).For many years, I counted the “rakshasas” and
“Ghost Tygers” as Daemons, but there was no way I was going to pay $50 for the
new codex to use with an Allied detachment to an army I play maybe twice a
year.So now, the former Daemons are
units from Codex: Spikey Bad–Guy Marines, like so:

My
force is a hopefully-balanced mix of shooty and close-combat units.The army is not terrible mobile (which fits
its theme as a ragtag-collection of washouts, raw recruits, and reformed
turncoats scraping by as best they can), but I knew the Wolves were bringing
the fight to me, anyway—Pat doesn’t do “stand-back-and-shoot” with them.I expected a lot of action in the Assault
Phases, and hopefully, my ex-Tigers would be able to go toe-to-toe with the
sons of Fenris.

Keric Quicbrand’s
Great Company: 2002 pointsby Patrick Eibel

When
we first planned this game, Kenton and I were both going to play Chaos warbands
to try out the (relatively) new codex.It quickly became apparent, however, that our Chaos army lists were very
similar.To change things up I opted to
bring Space Wolves, and to make things really different I tried to focus on
units that Chaos just can’t get.Here is
my list:

I
recently expanded my Thunderwolf riders to four plus the Wolf Lord, so I was
eager to try them out.Since I knew
Kenton’s Khorne-pokes would want to get close, I tried to being lots of plasma
weapons to thin his guys out before they got to strike.The Long Fangs were for some much-needed long-range
support, the Speeders were there to deal with the ubiquitous Forgefiends, and
the Fenris Wolves were just for fun and to look cool running alongside the
bears.

Set-Up

We
played at Pat’s house on a 4' x 8' table Pat had set up ahead of time.We rolled up Warlord Traits and Pat got “Target
Priority” for Keric.Much more useful,
we agreed, was “Black Crusader” for Shamshir (from Codex: Chaos Space Marines),
which would give all friendly units within 12" of him Preferred Enemy against Space Marines.

I
rolled for the gifts of mutation that I had purchased, and with a “13,” I
received nothing for the leader of the Greater Rakshasas (Possessed).The chief Ghost Tyger (Warp Talon) was more
fortunate, coming up with +1 Toughness.

We
rolled for mission (“The Relic”) and deployment (“Dawn of War,” with darkness
falling later in the game).We also
diced for table side, and I won, choosing the one with the tall bastion (with
non-functional guns, of course, as I had not bought any fortifications).Accordingly, I deployed first, with all of my
units within 12" of Shamshir so as to benefit from Preferred Enemy.I jammed my
Lesser Rakshasas (Khorne Berzerkers) up on the edge of my deployment zone to
make a charge for the objective in the center of the table.I put Squad Agni (Havocs) in the bastion on
my left flank, Squad Rudra (Chaos Space Marines) in the ruins on my right, with
the Greater Rakshasas (Possessed) behind them—I had seen Pat’s Drop Pods, and
knew there would be company calling.I
put the Ghost Tygers (Warp Talons) behind the Lesser Rakshasas and the Bronze
Tygers (Forgefiends) behind them to provide fire.

Pat
deployed Wolf Lord Keric and his Thunder…bear Cavalry behind some trees, along
with his Fenris Wolves.He put his Long
Fangs and his Land Speeders on his right flank, across from my Havocs.Pat attempted to seize the initiative,
failed, and off we went.

Turn 1

With
the exception of Squad Agni, my army advanced, with Shamshir, my Lesser
Rakshasas, and the Ghost Tygers going towards the objective.Squad Rudra moved to better firing positions
in the ruins, and the Greater Rakshasas followed.Agni and the Bronze Tygers fired on one pack
of Long Fangs, killing two (they were in a bunker).Squad Rudra had a bead on the Fenris Wolves,
and they shot two of them dead.

On
Pat’s turn, two of his Drop Pods arrived, one of them behind my lines, the
other right in front, near the relic.The Fenris Wolves, Thunderbears, and Land Speeders advanced, with the
vehicles firing their multi-meltas at the closer Bronze Tyger, knocking off a
Hull Point, though the Forgefiend’s daemonic possession shrugged off the
“shaken” result.A missile launcher from
a Long Fang took out another Hull Point, however.Hmmm.

More
worrisome was the Grey Hunter pack behind my lines, which deployed from its
Drop Pod and fired into my other Bronze Tyger from behind, wrecking it by
knocking off 3 Hull Points with their melta gun and rapid-firing bolters.Rude.

More
fire from Long Fangs killed one of my lascannons guys and the dude with the
autocannon in Squad Agni.The other Grey
Hunter pack and its Drop Pod fired into Lesser Rakshasa Pack #1, killing
4.Alas for them, I had 16 left, plus
Shamshir.The
Thunderbears failed to make a charge against Lesser Rakshasa Pack #2, but the
Fenris Wolves reached the Ghost Tygers.The scrap took out 6 Wolves but killed all Tygers.Keric’s crew had definitely come to take
names and kick ass.

Turn 2

All
righty, then.On my turn, my surviving
Bronze Tyger regenerated a Hull Point thanks to the It Will Not Die ability.Squad Rudra fired on the first Grey Hunter pack, the one that had waxed
my other Bronze Tyger, and three sons of Fenris went back to Valhalla (no, not
the planet where the pseudo-Soviet IG run around in their tacky-ass long
coats).Shamshir and Lesser Rakshasa
Pack #1 shot at the second Grey Hunter squad, killing four of them.The Bronze Tyger unloaded its Hades
autocannons at the Thunderbears, dropping one, and Lesser Rakshasa Pack #2 took
out another.

Grey
Hunter Pack #2 evidently didn’t like the chili Shamshir and crew were serving,
because they fell back out of charging range.Grey Hunter Pack #1 snap-fired in vain at the Greater Rakshasas as the
Tiger Men from Hell charged.The leader
challenged the Rune Priest with the pack, and they slew each other
simultaneously.The Rakshasas killed
four, thanks to the vorpal weapons they rolled up at the beginning of the
fight, and the Hunters killed one and hung around to keep swinging next turn.

Lesser
Rakshasa Pack #2 charged Keric and the TBears, with the leader of the
TigerDudes challenging Keric and losing embarrassingly for his
presumption.However, the rest of the
pack inflicted 37 Wounds on the Thunderbears, killing all of them.Keric and the Rakshasas formed up to keep
fighting.

On
Pat’s turn, his other two Drop Pods arrived, right around the relic, and Grey
Hunters spilled out to menace Shamshir and Lesser Rak Pack 1.They rapid-fired, killing 9 Raks and losing
one of their own from plasma gun feedback.

The
Land Speeders fired on my Bronze Tyger, immobilizing it and knocking off a Hull
Point.The Long Fangs fired on it as
well, to no effect, though their plasma cannon did frappe the missile launcher
guy from Squad Agni (hooray for split fire).

The
Fenris Wolves charged Lesser Rak Pack #2, who ignored them, throwing everything
at Keric after he killed four of them first.The Raks wounded Keric 10 times, but he only suffered one, making all
his other saves.The Fenris Wolves
killed four Tigermen, and the fight continued.

Grey
Hunter Pack #2 charged Shamshir and his Rak pals: Team Chaos killed three and
Team Wolf killed one.The Grey Hunters
retreated 5".Elsewhere, the Greater
Rakshasas and their vorpal claws polished off the last of Grey Hunter Pack #1,
though they lost three of their own (ouch!).

Turn 3

At
the start of my turn, the Bronze Tyger regenerated another Hull Point, and was
now only down one.Seeing as how it
could not turn to target the Land Speeders, my tigerbot returned fire on the
Long Fangs, killing three from Pack #2.Squad Rudra let it rip against Grey Hunter Pack #3, gunning down four of
them.Shamshir and his Lesser Rakshasas
fired on Grey Hunter Pack #4, killing one.

Shamshir
and crew then charged, losing a proxied Berzerker to Overwatch fire.While Shamshir did fine hitting, he rolled
four “2’s” to wound, and only killed one Grey Hunter.No matter: his backups hacked up four Grey
Hunters while only losing one of their own.Grey Hunters threw 10 Attacks at Shamshir, but he easily shrugged off
all their hits.The Hunters lost their
nerve and fell back 3".

Meanwhile,
the two remaining Greater Rakshasas charged GH Pack #3, again rolling “vorpal
weapons.”Four Hunters dropped, as did
one Possessed Marine, and though the Hunters tried to fall back, they were
caught and the fight continued.Elsewhere, Keric hack-n-slashed another four Lesser Rakshasas, a Fenris
Wolf killed another, and the tigerheads did skadoosh against Keric.

On
Pat’s turn, one of the Grey Hunters from Pack #4 had the cajones to pick up the
relic, which made him Target Numero Uno to Senor Shamshir.The Land Speeders swooped behind the Bronze
Tyger and fired, easily kersploding it.Drop Pods and Grey Hunters fired on Squad Rudra and Shamshir’s bunch,
which resulted in two Lesser Rakshasas being killed.

In
the Assault Phase, Keric kept on keeping on, killing the last three Lesser
Rakshasas from that bunch and then sweeping towards the middle of the
board.The last Greater Rakshasa killed
one Grey Hunter from Pack #3, leaving one Imperial left from that unit.

Turn 4

Squad
Agni’s lascannon knocked a Wound off Keric and Squad Rudra unloaded their
bolters on him, dropping the Wolf Lord.Shamshir and his sole surviving Lesser Rakshasa charged GH Pack #4:
Shamshir had 7 Attacks, but only hit once.The last Rak and GH killed each other, leaving no one with the
relic.Not far away, the last Greater Rakshasa
and member of GH Pack #3 continued to grapple, with neither gaining the upper
hand.

On
Pat’s turn, the Land Speeders vaporized Shamshir as the Fenris Wolves rushed to
engage Squad Rudra.Long Fangs, Drop
Pods, and unengaged Grey Hunters fired on Rudra, killing three of them.

The
Fenris Wolves charged Squad Rudra and lost four to Overwatch fire—stay, Fido,
stay!The last two made it into close
combat and got clubbed by boltgun butts and knives—lie down, Fido, lie down!The lone Greater Rakshasa and his GH playmate
continued to tussle.

Turn 5

I
rolled, and the Night Fighting rules
took effect (big whoop, at this point).Squad Rudra advanced to pick up the relic, then fired on the two guys
left from Grey Hunter Pack #2, killing one of them.Squad Agni fired on the Speeders, shaking
one.The last Hunter from Pack #3 killed
the last Greater Rakshasa, winning himself extra Ikea meatballs for dinner. On
Pat’s turn, his forces—Speeders, Long Fangs, Drop Pods, Grey Hunters—fired
everything they had at Squad Rudra, killing 4 out of 7, and forcing the
Stripeypants to drop the relic and fall back.

Turn 6

I
had a slim chance left: if I could rally, my guys could storm back and take the
relic, and hopefully I could weather Pat’s fire.Alas, my guys bricked their attempt to
regroup, and continued falling back (“Hey, if the Swedish Chef Chapter wants
the darn thing so bad, they can have it”).Pat’s guys closed in and claimed the prize—and the game.

Final Score

Keric
Quicbrand’s Great Company: 5 Victory Points

Fearful
Symmetry: 1 Victory Point

Post-Game Analysisby Patrick Eibel

As
is usual with games between Kenton and me, this one was close and bloody.Space Wolves are every bit the match for an
assault-oriented Chaos force.I was
really impressed with my guys’ ability to hang in close combat, and with the
Possessed Marines, who seemed to get a lot of vorpal attacks on my
good-guys.

I
was also impressed with the Thunderwolf Cavalry, but only up to a point.They make themselves such a target that it is
hard for them to make back their points (though Keric did in spades.)My Overwatch shooting accounted for few
casualties.Plasma and bolt weapons are
hard to rely on when being charged, but flamers really rock (the Fenrisian Wolves
are still licking their singed fur.)

This
game was so close, it literally came down to one or two guys claiming the
objective at the end, which is all you can ask for an afternoon of gaming,

Post-Game Analysisby Kenton Kilgore

Bah!Pat’s being much too gracious.I played like crap, and only some decent dice
rolls (and Pat and I botching a rule) kept the game as close as it was.

I
completely mis-used the Warp Talons, and got them killed for not much
gain.I should have Deep Struck them in
between the Long Fangs to possibly Blind
them, or at least give them something else to shoot at besides my
Forgefiends.The Fiends should have made
the Speeders their #1 target, as their multi-meltas were the greatest
threat.Squad Agni should have been
better positioned so that more of them had angles of fire.

For
the most part, my dice rolls were good, bolstered by Shamshir’s Preferred Enemy ability.Shamshir himself was craptastic in fights,
with lots of bad rolls: I need to arm him better to make him as fearsome as
Keric, who was killing four guys every Assault Phase.Khorne Berzerkers on the charge are fearsome,
but the Space Wolves had the grit to hang in there and wear them down.

The
rule we blew was allowing me to shoot at Keric after he had waded through
Lesser Rak Pack #2 and was on his way to fight for the relic.I failed to notice that Keric was within 2”
of the Fenris Wolves, so automatically, he had joined them.I’m sure there was no way, given how depleted
my force was by that point, that I would have been able to shoot all the Fenris
Wolves and bring him down before he got to the center of the board and hacked
up any Stripeypants he found there.I
only realized this after the game, and I apologized to Pat; fortunately, it had
no bearing on the outcome of the game, as the better army (and the better man)
had won.

Obviously,
I need more practice.Pat, let’s get together
again soon for a rematch….

Carrying a
narrow, sealed metal container, Rune Priest Harald Torvald went to where the
men had propped Wolf Lord Keric Quicbrand against the remains of a wall. Though
Harald’s head was bandaged, it was his pride that had suffered most, when a
blow from the Greater Rakshasa’s champion had knocked him senseless just as he
had caved in the monster’s chest with his own strike.

An ordinary
human could not hope to survive even a single wound from an exploding bolt
shell, but Keric had survived two—but then, Keric was extraordinary even for a
Space Wolf.“Tell me that’s the little
pieces of Shamshir Talatra’s skull you have in that canister,” Keric growled to
Harald, as the medi-thralls worked to mend him and his ursine mount, Arctos,
similarly wounded by bolters.

“No, I can’t,”
Harald said. “All at once, before we could gather prisoners or strip the dead,
the entire enemy fighting force simply disappeared right before us, gone…who
knows where.”

Keric
grunted.“We’ll assume he lives, then,”
the Wolf Lord decided, “and resume our hunt.So what is that you have?”

“Looks like nothingmore than a message-tube,” Harald said, “but Shamshir, his daemons, and his
renegades were intent on having it. Shall I?”

Keric nodded,
and Harald twisted off the cap of the tube with some difficulty, even for his
superhuman strength.He held out a hand,
tipped the canister with the other.A
small crystal figurine, in the rough shape of a man, fell into Harald’s palm.

“What is that?”
Keric asked.

Harald dropped
the canister, turned the figurine over in his hands.“I…I don’t know.”He closed his eyes, concentrated, let the
power of the Warp fill him.Looked at it
with his witch sight.

What appeared to
normal eyes to be merely crudely-carved crystal was, viewed psychically, a
humanoid of inky darkness, dotted here and there by what seemed to be tiny
stars.It was no hunk of inanimate rock:
it was alive, sentient, filled with hatred.It shrieked inside his head, and the anger and cruelty and malice that
it bombarded Harald with staggered him almost as badly as the blow from the
Rakshasa.Harald reeled…

…and then his
years of training as a Rune Priest saved him, drove the hateful keening from
his mind.He severed the psychic
connection between himself and this hell-doll, snapped open his physical
eyes.Threw the figurine to the ground
and smashed it beneath his armored boots until it was powder.

“Whatever it
was, it was best, that none should have it,” Harald said..